ABSTRACT
There are important authenticity issues in meat-
containing foods like the origin of the meat in the
food and the identification of any substituting meat
(1). The detection of fraudulent substitutions or adul-
terations in a food is very important for consumers.
For instance, addition of low-cost meat like kangaroo
or whale instead of beef is an important and challeng-
ing task in food control. The substitution of high-value
meats by cheaper meats, offal, or other proteins consti-
tutes a major fraudulent practice. However, there are
other important reasons for the correct determination
of meat species such as specific food allergies for
particular groups of people, controlled diets (i.e.,
pregnant women, athlets, etc.), or religious restrictions
(i.e., rejection of pork meat by Muslem people). The
treatment of meat is also important as it also may
affect the quality. In fact, the use of frozen/thawed
meat or even mechanically recovered meat instead of
fresh meat is another important issue. The definition of meat is important in order to
decide the most appropriate analytical methodology.
The CODEX Standard for Luncheon Meat (Codex
Stan 89-1891) and Cooked Cured Chopped Meat
(Codex Stan 98-1891) define meat, considering it as
a raw material contained in these products, as ‘‘the
edible part, including edible offal, of any mammal
slaughtered in an abattoir’’ (2). The EC Meat Products
Directive 94/65/EEC consider meat as all parts of
